I checked out a preschool for Abby today and it looks like a good fit for our family. So, she gets to start on Monday! Yeah!! They have a science class and a chef class which I think she will really enjoy. She was a bit shy about checking things out today, but that is pretty typical of her. I just hope things go smoothly on Monday. Right now she sounds excited about going so hopefully she will feel the same when I try to leave her on Monday. They don't offer daycare so I don't know how any of this will work out if I decide to look for a job, but we will cross that bridge when we get there! It will be fun to have some one on one time with Mckenzie. Abby is starting to act out at bedtime again. We had problems with her not wanting to sleep in her room before we left Pensacola and she had been doing pretty good while we were travelling, but lately, she keeps saying she can't fall asleep or doesn't want to go to bed.  I don't know what her deal is. Last night I was so tired I just took her to bed with me and Scott put her back in her own room when he got home from his flight at midnight. I know I shouldn't do that, but...

Mckenzie has been using the potty off and on and tonight she told me she had to go and actually went! It is so exciting. I would love to have her potty trained by 2! Abby really wanted to do arts and crafts with glitter today. Her actual request was to make a cat and use glitter. So, my fantastic drawing skills came out and she decorated my cat (which was hideous by the way) with glitter and made it beautiful! We even made handprints in glitter. It was so fun. She also asked to do her "school work" today. We give her a book and assign her pages to do. She gets such a kick out of it.

Dinner at Olive Garden rounded out of day. Abby was begging to go to the lobster place (Red Lobster), but we told her it was closed as we didn't really want to go there tonight! Little white lies are ok right?

Yesterday was a very busy day for us between cleaning and running to Target and the grocery store. I was busy doing laundry and Mckenzie was helping me in her own way. I heard a strange noise coming from the hallway and it turns out that strange noise was Mckenzie coloring on the wall! Fortunately, it came off the wall because neither Scott nor I want to paint the foyer! The girls were good and helped me clean up the mess. Mckenzie is such a little stinker! Today, she was trying to sit on the dog. Poor Dakota, she just takes it and looks at us with her big brown eyes as if begging us to make Mckenzie leave her alone. Mckenzie also likes to have Dakota give her kisses. Her face, belly, pacifier, anywhere the dog will lick he r. Mckenzie squeals in delight! Both girls are loving having the dog back. I caught Abby and Dakota taking a snooze together this afternoon. Let's hope Abby doesn't stay up too late! During dinner Abby and I were talking about how old you had to be before you could do certain things since she is always saying "I'm 4. I can do xyz..." I asked her how old you had to be to drive a car and she said 16. Good answer I thought, but I then asked how old before you could have a boyfriend and she said one!  Guess she still doesn't have the whole concept of time down yet!  Scott's friend, Gabe, came for a visit yesterday and we had a great time. We hadn't seen him since Pensacola so it was nice to see a friendly face. And his visit forced me to get the house in order for the most part. I love waking up and seeing our photos on the wall, especially the beach pics we had taken before we left Pensacola. It is really making this feel like our home instead of just a place to hang our hat! Now if we can get that dishwasher problem resolved...

Well, this post is a little late, but we have been rushing around the house trying to get it in order. Scott's friend is coming for a visit tomorrow and this house was in no shape for company. Fortunately, it is looking bettter, there are pictures on the walls and now all I need to do is clean tomorrow! I never thought I would be excited to clean, but I am! I am just so happy the house isn't littered with boxes and junk. There are still some things I need to sort, but it isn't anything urgent. Abby was so excited to get pictures put up in her room. She squealed in delight when Scott put her name letters on the wall! This afternoon, Abby was playing upstairs while Scott and I were working on things downstairs. She needed help with something (I can't honestly remember what now) and she said to Scott "Why don't you just come up here and do it!" Where does she come up with these things? I need to make a mental note to myself never to let Abby take a nap again. We didn't realize she had fallen asleep and it was a big mistake! She was up until 1130 tonight telling us "I just can't sleep". Oh, Scott took the girls with him to the recycling center today. On the second trip there, Abby noticed a box left on the ground (Scott accidently left in there because the one container was full). Abby scolded Scott saying, "Daddy you can't leave boxes on the snow. Silly Daddy!" I think we need to put a helmet on Mckenzie. She bumped her head again today. She loves to climb and you never know when she is going to do it. Today it was from her chair in her room.

We bought an elliptical machine today and man is that thing heavy! Scott carried up all the pieces except for one which he needed my help with. Holy cow, even just that one piece was ridiculously heavy for the two of us. We managed to somehow get it upstairs with only slight damage to Scott's hand and it is finally put together. Yeah. Now I get to start working out again. While Scott was working on getting it together, Abby kept coming to me and saying "Momma, your heavy thing is almost ready!" Apparently she couldn't remember what it was called because she just kept calling it my "heavy thing". Silly little girl. Mckenzie was busy helping Scott put together a cabinet I bought for all my scrapbooking stuff (which by the way isn't big enough for the scrapbook paper, so now I need to find something else). She kept climbing in it and trying to assist Scott . So cute. I think I have come to a standstill in this house. I can't seem to get anything else put away. I either don't know where to put it, or if I even still want it, or I need to buy something to put it in. Oh and the dishwasher has decided to completely stop working. There is a pool of water in the bottom of it and it won't clean the dishes. I do NOT like handwashing dishes. It takes forever and makes my hands yucky! I hope the dishwasher fairy comes tonight or else we may be eating take-out on paper plates for the rest of the time we live here!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so I haven't been able to post the last few days, but we were gone for the weekend. We drove to Columbus, Ohio to meet Sheri and her family and pick up Dakota! What a great weekend with great friends. We didn't do much, but it was fun to hang out.  We took the kids swimming on Saturday. They had a blast. Abby is getting more confident in the water and Mckenzie, well, that little one has no fear. She kept trying to get away from us in the water.  We didn't get to swim for long as the water was soooo cold. It was indoors, but the kids had goose bumps so we were done pretty early.  We headed to a shopping center, but we didn't get much shopping done because it wasn't a mall, but an outdoor shopping center. It was a really nice place (minus all the little thugs running around) but it was too cold for the little ones. We took them to get dinner and played some games. They all had lots of fun. Sheri and I even had time to get in a movie! It was so nice to have some adult time. Today was spent in the car again. Mckenzie didn't do so well in the car. I think her teeth may be bothering her. Dakota travelled well and Abby kept Scott in line!  Scott happened to drift over the white line and it makes that loud irritating noise. Abby said "Daddy isn't staying on the road too well." She is so funny! It is great to be back home with Dakota. Having her around makes it feel just a little more like home.  I know she has been well taken care of these last few months. Thanks so much Sheri and Matt! We really appreciate it! Being home with our whole family here was a great way to spend this Valentine's Day.

Well today was a much better day than yesterday. Thankfully we had no major tantrums! We took the kids outside to play in the snow while we cleared the driveway and sidewalks. (I know I complained about not having sidewalks when we lived in Florida, but I think I could do without having to shovel them here!) The girls had a great time out there. Mckenzie didn't like it if any snow got on her. She was content to stand there and look around without touching anything. If she got any snow on her mittens, she would hold her hands out, expecting us to clean them off. She did enjoy sliding down the big pile of snow though she had more fun riding in her little car. Abby had so much fun throwing snowballs. She said "It's so much fun to throw snow at Daddy!". Abby and I built a couple of snowpeople today. It was fun, but the snow was so heavy. We went to dinner tonight and the girls got ice cream for dessert. They both just love ice cream! Mckenzie took a huge bite and her eyes got huge and her mouth opened to let in warm air. I wan't sure if she was going to have more after that, but she kept on spooning it in!  We are off to pick up Dakota in the morning! Yeah!! We haven't seen her since the end of September and I have really been missing her lately. Can't wait to see her. And we get to see Sheri and her family! So excited for that too! Oh, when Scott was putting Mckenzie down for nap, Abby said to Scott "I need a nap too Daddy. My eyes are really sleepy". She didn't end up falling asleep. She came back downstairs after 10-15 minutes telling us "I just couldn't go to sleep".

What a day! Abby seemed to have tantrum after tantrum today. I don't know what her deal was today, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. Maybe it is being stuck in the house.  We got freezing rain/sleet and then some snow. It is still snowing out and it looks like it will snow through the night. So glad Scott found a shovel! The trees are so beautiful with the pristine snow gently covering the branches. I hope it doesn't get too windy overnight because I really want to get some better pictures tomorrow. Scott had a snow day from work so it was great to have him around the house. He told Mckenzie it was time for a nap and she went to her little chair, rested her head on the seat and pretended to go to sleep. So cute!  We brought the girls' chairs down from their rooms so they could watch Tinkerbelle today. It was so cute to see them both sitting down, watching a movie. I feel bad they get to watch so much tv these days, but it is the easiest distraction for them so I can get some work done! Abby and I got to play Candyland today and I felt so bad for winning the first two games that I started cheating so she could win the last two. I love to see her reaction when she wins. Her eyes light up and she starts cheering with her hands raised in the air. The girls were busy coloring today. Well, Abby colors, Mckenzie just breaks the crayons and peels the paper off. Abby didn't want her picture taken today, so I had to sneak one in when she was distracted playing with stickers! Oh, I just had to add the picture of our pancakes I made for breakfast. Abby was so excited to have shapes in her cakes! She couldn't decide if she wanted a tree or a snowman. She finally chose the tree giving Mckenzie the snowman.

Well, Target stole more of my money today. Seriously, I think I should have bought Target stock before we moved into this house. I found the cutest rugs for the girls' rooms! They are super soft and it is so sweet to watch Mckenzie roll around on them. She grabbed a blanket, a bear and snuggled down into the rug. I think Abby may be feeling a little neglected with all this house work. Today when Mckenzie was down for her nap I asked Abby if she wanted to watch Tinkerbell so I could try to get some more work done. She got very excited and said sure. Then she looked at me with her big hazel eyes and asked if I wanted to watch with her. I said no, I had unpacking to do. Abby looked at me sadly and said "Can I help you unpack?" That broke my heart. She didn't care what we did, as long as it was together. So, I turned on the fireplace and snuggled with my girl and watched Tinkerbell. Cute show and I loved the time snuggling with my "baby". Mckenzie cracked me up at lunch. I made grilled cheese and soup and gave Mckenzie a spoon to eat her soup. She opened her sandwich and used the spoon to scoop out the cheese. She used her fingers to eat her soup. Go figure!

I think today has been the most productive since we got here! Mckenzie's room is set up minus pictures on the walls, but her room was so much work. She is changing clothes size again so I had to get rid of the things that no longer fit and find room for the new to Mckenzie clothes (aka Abby's old clothes). Boy did Abby have a lot of clothes. I feel bad for dressing Mckenzie in so many hand me downs, but they are still in such good condition. Abby's room is mostly organized. I just put away all her clothes and we are set in there too. There are still so many things I need to do like get rugs for the floors and the pictures and shelves on the walls, but they both have curtains and toys to play with!  Abby has such a little attitude. Tonight we put her too bed and not two minutes later she was out of her room insisting she have two lights on in her room. We told her she had her nightlight and that was enough light. She looked at us, rolled her eyes over and over and said "I ONLY have one light (holding up one finger). I need two lights (with two fingers up). We bargained back and forth for a minute or so until I said one light or none. With very exaggerated eye rolling she said fine and went off to bed! Scott and I could hardly keep ourselves from laughing. She looked so darn cute and grown up leaning against the door bargaining for what she wanted. Scott had a lot of boxes to carry to the garage when he got home and Mckenzie thought she could help him by holding the door for him. Then when he would come back inside, she would put both hands on her cheeks and screech very excitedly. I love how excited she gets to see us.

Well, some of the snow is already melting, but I hear there is more to come on Wednesday. Abby went outside with Scott and made a snowman. It was tiny, but the snow wasn't very wet making it tough to make a big snowman. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. Abby kicked it over after I took a picture of her and Daddy with their snowman. Abby decided to use the area rug in the living room for a slide today and Mckenzie had to follow suit. The things they come up with never ceases to amaze me, though it does make me wonder why I buy toys when a rolled up rug is just as good! Mckenzie was hilarious at lunch, well second lunch. She ate her lunch and then decided to help me eat mine. I had soup and she was using my spoon to scoop the soup from the bowl onto her spoon. Then she would eat it from her spoon. I am not sure how much she actually ate since the table was quite messy when we were all done. Abby was playing the Wii bowling today and when it didn't go the way she wanted, she screamed "Are you kidding me?" Just another one of those things I have absolutely, positively no idea where she picked it up from!